Sunday, January 31, 2010

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Back in the day, the best part of hanging out was exchanging music.

Chicks, man. What about the chicks?

OK, the second best thing about hanging out back in the day was exchanging music. I couldn't begin to count the number of times I heard something new being played on someone's tunes box. If you wish you still had reliable music critics within your circle of friends as much as I do, then this is the posting for you.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is a trio out of San Francisco (Now based in LA) with Peter Hayes on guitar and Robert Levon Been on bass, although they occasionally swap instruments. Both sing, and their singing voices are almost indistinguishable. Their music is gritty, hard-rockin' badass Rock 'n' Roll, much like the stuff we used to listen to in high school.

My brother and I caught their act a couple of years ago here in Asheville. When he and I argue about the state of the music world (he argues rock is dead), BRMC is the first band I cite that it is not. If you are unfamiliar with their work, oooooohhhh are you in for a treat today. I got the good stuff for you here.

The album you'll want to get is Baby 81. It's good from beginning to end. Arguably, the catchiest song from it is Weapon of Choice. Here's the video from YouTube.

That's badass, right? Here's some songs for you to download and add to your ipod. Weapon of Choice and Berlin are from Baby 81, but I'm giving you the version of Berlin from their Live album and DVD released last November that can only be purchased online from their official website here. If you'd like to check out a way-cool video of an interview on BBC Radio, click here (caution - it's 199 MB). I also have for you Whenever You're Ready from American X, and Shuffle Your Feet from Howl. Their next album, Beat the Devil's Tatoo, is due out next March. Here's an early taste of it posted on YouTube.

19 comments:

oh man i hate the fact that you labled that picture chick chicks chicks if you look carefully you will see me Ward Haskell in the picture and Kevin Quinn uggh couldnt you have called it a couple of dudes surrounded by chicks

I heard them for the 1st time on Steven Van Zandt's radio show. He also played the Black Keys and Reigning Sound (all bands I never heard before). After that I went to iTunes and got a few tracks... then the albums... and now I'm a huge fan of all these bands. For an old guy, he does have a good ear for new music.

Like a gigantic hand scraping its fingernails across the chalkboard of West Point’s concrete, the sound of the dodgers in transit was a fluid social stain designed to disrupt with impunity the otherwise perfect and repressed order of the Academy.